May I state clearly why I am sharing these lessons with you. Pornography is a
major problem among Christians. Sexual intercourse among the unmarried is a major
problem among Christians. Adulterous affairs are a major problem among Christians.
Indulging sexual passions in sexual fantasies is a major problem among Christians.

Commonly, these problems are either ignored or denied in the church. We
commonly choose to do one of three things: (1) we deny the prevalence of these
problems. (2) Or, we declare that helping people with such problems is not the work of
the church. (3) Or, we make sexual sin a Christian taboo and condemn it. Our
condemnation sends this message: "if you are struggling against a sexual problem,
stop the problem. But, whatever you do, don't come to us for help."

Jesus forgave people who wanted forgiveness for sexual immorality. The
churches in the New Testament educated people who struggled with sexual immorality.
The objective of education was to free them from their slavery. We need to allow Jesus
and the churches in the New Testament to encourage us to help people who want help.
If we do not, Satan will continue to use sexual evil to slaughter Christians.

The book of Genesis was written by Moses to the Israelites who had been
released from Egyptian slavery.

Genesis had a specific message with a specific purpose for these people.

The word Genesis means "beginning."

The Hebrews or Israelites named their books by using the first word that
appeared in the book.

The first Hebrew word in this book means "in the beginning."

Genesis is its English name, and it originated with the Greek translation of
the Hebrew.

"Beginning" is a very appropriate name for this book.

Its basic purpose was simple: it explained to these freed slaves (1) their
origin and (2) why they lived in Egypt.

The material begins with God's creation and ends with Joseph's death in
Egypt.

Only two chapters of fifty are devoted to the creation, a total of 56
verses.

One chapter of fifty, or twenty-four verses, is devoted to the origin of
evil.

Thirty-nine chapters of fifty are devoted to Abraham and his
descendants.

The book told the Israelites basically two things:

It told them that every physical thing that exists, including them, has its
origin in the living God who delivered them from Egypt.

No Egyptian god delivered them from slavery.

The living, Creator God delivered them from slavery.

It explained to them that they were the descendants of Abraham.

Abraham had a special relationship with the Creator God.

They were delivered from Egypt so the Creator God could keep His
promise that He made to Abraham.

The book was not written to be a science book, a philosophy book, or a book
on ethics.

The book was written to explain to Israel their origin and their history.

The book was written to help hundreds of thousands of freed slaves
understand and claim their identity.

It was not written to address 20th and 2lst century issues that did not
exist when Israel was delivered from Egypt.

Genesis contains two creation accounts; one is general and one is specific.

The general account, Genesis one, briefly discusses how the Creator God
brought the physical world, all physical things, and human life into existence.

The specific account, Genesis two, discusses in more detail the creation of
the man and woman, the human male and female.

This is the information I want you to consider.

The creation of the human was unique; the human was a unique life form.

God made a special environment for the human and placed the male
human in that environment.

In that environment the man had only one need: the need for
companionship because loneliness was not good.

Genesis 2:18-25 deserves your special attention. Notice the progression of
its information.

First, notice the statement that the state of loneliness is not a good state
of existence for the man.

That was not a discovery God made after creating Adam; God knew
that before creating Adam.

But Adam did not know that, and Israel needed a better understanding
of that.

In that process, Adam discovered that no creature was like him, was
suitable for him, could be companion to him, had an existence that
corresponded to his existence.

God knew that. Adam did not know that. Adam had to discover that
truth before he could appreciate the uniqueness of Eve.

Third, God created Eve from Adam to be his equal, not his superior, not
his servant, but his equal.

When God presented Eve to Adam, Adam immediately understood.

"She is unique! There is no creature like her! She "corresponds" in
existence to me! She is a part of me!"

We correctly understand that this is the origin of family.

Humans were made to (1) be in relationship with God and (2) exist as
families by establishing a relationship between a man and a woman.

The individual was created to bond with another individual and bring into
existence family life; we were created to be social beings.

It was very important for Israel to understand those facts.

Israel was family.

Israel was family who belonged to the living Creator God.

Because they as family were descendants of the Abraham who had a
special relationship with the Creator God who just released Israel from
slavery, they needed to understand that God was working through
Abraham's family to bring a blessing to every family on earth.

As family, they needed to commit to and cooperate with the Creator God.

I now want you to think about a statement you have used all your life.

Those of you who grew up in the church always have heard and taught that
Eve was created to be a suitable helper for Adam.

Question: help Adam do what?

When Eve was presented to Adam, there was no evil in the world.

There was no toil and labor.

They lived in an environment designed by God to met every physical life
need they had.

He did not go to the office, and she did not iron clothes.

He and she did not make money at different jobs to make ends meet.

Marriage exists so that we can help each other. But:

If that help is limited to cleaning house and paying the bills, we miss the
core concept of helping each other.

If that help is limited to making money and acquiring possessions, we
miss the core concept of helping.

Help each other do what?

The marriage exists by God's design to destroy loneliness.

We miserably fail to bring into existence what God intended marriage to do.

There are more married Christians who are lonely than there are married
Christians who live in a relationship that destroys loneliness.

Too many Christians experience two common failures in marriage.

Too many Christians, too many people do not understand how to destroy
loneliness through marriage.

Too many Christians, too many people do not understand how to create a
healthy sexual relationship that nurtures marriage.

I do not wish to offend anyone, but we cannot address one of the fundamental
reasons for marriage distress without speaking frankly.

There are two fundamental reasons for so many marriages experiencing deep
distress.

The first is that the two people in the marriage are not in a healthy
relationship with God.

In a January 8 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette entitled,
"Christians more likely to divorce than non-Christians, Survey finds," the
results of a Barna Research Group of almost 4,000 adults reveals that the
divorce rate is higher among born-again Christians than among those
who declare themselves to be atheist and agnostics.

The results also seem to indicate that there is some relationship between
conservative beliefs and divorce: it seems that the more conservative the
beliefs of the group, the more likely people in that group are to divorce.

You may interpret those results as you wish, but, whatever your
interpretation, the evidence indicates that people professing to be born
again Christians do not create the kind of relationship with God that
nurtures marriage.

The second fundamental reason many marriages experience deep distress is
this: many married Christian men and women do not understand each other
well enough to destroy loneliness.

Men and women are fundamentally different as persons.

The magnitude of that difference is seen in the monthly cycle of a woman and
the sex drive of a man.

No man understands the power the monthly cycle has in a woman's life.

That is totally outside a man's life experience.

He does not even observe that reality until he is married.

It takes a while for him to grasp that the effects of that cycle are real.

Because he never experienced those experiences, many men decide, "It
is all in your mind; get tough, forget about it, and don't think about it."

He does not understand, and his wife experiences the loneliness that
comes from realizing, "He does not understand me as a person."

No woman understands the power of a man's sex drive in a man' life.

That is totally outside a woman's life experience.

She does not even observe that reality until she is married.

It takes a while for her to grasp that the effects of the sex drive are real.

Because she never experienced those experiences, many women decide,
"It is all in your mind; get tough; forget about it, and don't think about it."

She does not understand, and her husband experiences the loneliness
that comes from realizing, "She does not understand me as a person."

A fundamental purpose of marriage is to destroy loneliness.

The objective of the unique companionship shared by a man and woman in
marriage is to destroy loneliness.

A key component of that companionship is a mutually healthy, nurturing
sexual relationship.

That relationship cannot exist if the husband and wife are not committed to
understanding each other.

Without that commitment, marriage cannot accomplish one of the primary
objectives of God's design--the destruction of loneliness.

Having good sex does not create marriage.

Good sex alone cannot create successful marriage.

The understandings that destroy loneliness create a successful marriage.

Those understandings will build a good sexual relationship.

A healthy, nurturing sexual companionship is critical to a healthy, nurturing
marriage that destroys loneliness for both the husband and the wife.

The church will not be successful in helping people leave pornography,
unmarried intercourse, and adulterous affairs until we help people understand that God
designed marriage relationships to destroy loneliness.